A Successful TEXES Run in 2013

The high-resolution mid-infrared spectrograph TEXES completed an eleven-night visitor-instrument run at Gemini North on November 23. The TEXES team of John Lacy (University of Texas at Austin) and Matt Richter (University of California, Davis), encountered poor weather that kept the telescope closed part of the time, but they still managed to complete about 80% of the Band 1 observations and 60% of the Band 2 observations. The scientific programs included an investigation of the atmosphere above Io’s volcanoes, chemistry studies of protoplanetary disks around young stars, and determination of the evolutionary state of a massive star deeply embedded in its natal cloud. If community interest remains high, and the instrument team continues to be able to support observations, we expect to have another TEXES visit to Gemini in 2014.